Jumpstart Writing Career With Scriptapalooza.com Contest -- $50k In Prizes

A man enters a screenplay to a competition, snags an agent, then turns that script into a novel. Another man enters same competition, submits his screenplay, lands an agent and creates Latino 101, which is the highest rated show on NuVoTV -- an English language network targeted at Latinos.

This is just a couple of the many success stories from the Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition. Turning a script into a novel has actually happened before, former 1st place Scriptapalooza winner, Chris Carlyle, whose script “The Trial of Alex Lord” was turned into a novel.

Mark Andrushko the founder of the Scriptapalooza, in its 16th year, promotes and pushes as many writers as he can, however he can. It is not uncommon to have production companies to contact Mark and request certain genres. “I get calls throughout the year from companies looking for material, it doesn’t matter if the contest is closed, I try to help as many writers as possible!” he says.

This competition started as a small grass roots effort and has become an industry powerhouse. Mark is also not threatened by the dozens of overnight competitions that pop up all the time. “Scriptapalooza has remained true to its basic core belief of creating opportunities,” he says.

This heartfelt commitment to the undiscovered writer is the reason Scriptapalooza is still around, and why the other competitions usually fade into oblivion just as quickly as they sprouted.

Writers will be able to submit their screenplays through www.scriptapalooza.com. Participants will have their individual entries read by more than 75 producers. This year they are awarding over $50,000 in prizes.

A winding road indeed, but if your end result is to be a paid writer than submitting to Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition is a great start. Screenwriters who enter the competition may not win the grand prize but rest assured that they have a man in the corner pushing them through the proverbial Hollywood door.